


Built Stronger

by HailingTorrent



Category: Dragon Ball
Genre: Coming Out, Dysphoria, F/M, Hints of Trunks/Goten, Internalized Transphobia, Supportive Trunks, Takes place during the time of the last episode of DBZ, Teen Goten and Trunks, Trans Female Character
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-06-29
Updated: 2018-06-29
Packaged: 2019-05-30 15:30:30
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,573
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15099668
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/HailingTorrent/pseuds/HailingTorrent
Summary: Coming Out isn't the easiest thing in the world.





	Built Stronger

**Author's Note:**

> Howdy! This fic was inspired by Every Step Of The Way, a Trans!Girl Goten DBZ fic. I would seriously reccommend reading it.
> 
> TWs for this fic are Transphobia, Dysphoria and Internalized Transphobia. If any of these are a trigger for you, please put your comfort first.

Like ash in the rain. Faded away from the surface and blown to the four corners of the world. Lost to time, nothing more than a fleeting memory. Something that no one would ever think of again in history. Feelings. Such a fleeting thing.

And how much Goten wished what she was feeling would do the same. Thus weird fucking maelstrom inside her.

There it was again. Her. Without even realising it, Goten had begun doing it. Without even thinking she's thinking it, Her. She. Woman. Female. Girl. All these words swirling around within her mind. And how she had begun using them for herself. Not in public. Of course not. But within her own thoughts and thinkings, he had been replaced by she.

No if, buts or coconuts as Dad would say. Goten was a girl. It didn’t matter what schools taught her about how girls are or should be. It didn’t matter that she wasn’t a match for those descriptions. It didn’t matter that she didn’t know the word for people like her. She was a girl. That was all that mattered.

It just came the issue of telling others now.

* * *

 

Trunks. Trunks was the first. As he usually was when it came to Goten’s mind. He was the first friend. The first person she cared about deeply outside his family. The first person she felt feelings for she couldn’t quite describe, but were an issue for another day. And he’d be the first to know she was a girl.

They met by the bluffs on the outskirts of West City, the grass cleanly cut by landscapers. The cliffside stared across the entire city, the building almost seeming small from up here. Even Capsule Corp looked small, which was something Goten never thought she’d think.

“Dad won’t cut out with the training. And now he wants to get Bulla started.” Sipping a Heatab, Trunks partially grumbled into the lid. “My Dad wants me to be a warrior. Mom wants me to be the next president of the company. Two worlds, Goten. Two frickin’ worlds.” The can empty, Trunks crumbled it in frustration and laid it at his side.

Nervously sipping her own Coke, Goten began going over in her mind whether she choose the right time. The right place. The right person. Trunks was in a bad mood. This could go too wrong too fast. This was a mistake. A mistake.

But it was her mistake to do.

“Trunks, you ever feel…...not right? With yourself.” Lowering her can, Goten began toying with the open tab, nearly pulling it off it’s surface.

“You mean, in life and shit?” The change in Goten’s tone had gotten Trunks to do the same in lowering his can, a confused and ever so slightly worried look adorning his face. “Cos I feel my whole thing I just said was a bit like that.” Throwing his hands up the air in frustration, Trunks worried expression turned to exasperation. “I mean, both my parents want me to be a clone of them. What if I want to be my own person? My own man?”

The words of Trunks struck cords in Goten’s own emotions. Clone of your parents. Your own man. Goten spent most of her life being told how much of a carbon copy she was of her father. A man. Would her parents be like Trunks’? Wishing their child to follow in their footsteps? Or would they let Goten be her own woman. Would they even let her be a woman? Not a thought Goten wanted to think about.

“Trunks, I think I was born wrong.” But she needed to talk about this with Trunks.

This quickly cut short the growling and muttering of the Briefs heir. The worried face from before returned, only far more intensified and double the worry.

“Goten, what……?” It seemed as if Trunks lost the end of his sentence, unable to find the words to finish.

“I mean, I wasn’t born right. Not how I was meant to be. Not how I should’ve been.” The stinging returned to the edges of Goten’s eyes, burning intensely. The precursor to crying, as she had learned through many sleepless nights thinking about this very topic.

“Goten, you’re scaring me.” Moving closer to his friend, Trunks placed a comforting hand on Goten’s shoulder, which he quickly retracted when Goten jumped at the touch.

“‘Ten.” A little nickname Trunks came up for Goten when they were younger. Goten loved it. It helped her remember that, despite what others may say, she wasn’t just a new version of her dad. She was a new person. Her own person. “You can talk to me. If you’re feeling all fucked up and shitty inside, I’m here. You’re my best friend, man.”

As expected, the last word of that heartwarming declaration of support didn’t land well. The tears that had been originally hiding in the eyes of Goten were now falling freely from her eyes. Raising a hand to cover her face, Goten turned away from Trunks in shame. She was being a coward. She was a goddamn Z-Fighter. A defender of Earth. And here she was falling apart at a mention of a word.

“Goten!” The anguish in Trunk’s voice had only heightened, having quickly moved around so she could face his pain stricken friend. “Please, I’m begging you. You’re my best friend! We’ve been through everything. The tournament. Buu. We can get through this too.”

This declaration of support landed better. Falling forward, Goten’s tears stained the shoulder of Trunk’s bomber jacket. The reassuring hand on the back of Goten’s head showed that he didn’t care.

“I’m not a man. I’m not a boy. I….I’m a girl! I don’t know how or why! I just am.” Now come the fallout. The worry that the hand on Goten’s head would retract or strike her. The comforting words from her best friend would turn spiteful and cruel. The best friend would not be anymore.

Instead, Trunks used his other hand to pull Goten into a full hug.

“Hey, it’s cool. It’s cool. You’re good, ‘Ten. You’re good.” The soothing words eased Goten’s tears, the shuddering and trembling subsiding as Goten slowly began to back off her friend’s shoulder, sniffing the tears away.

“I’m-I’m sorry about your jacket.”

“Ha, this thing? I got about ten in my closet.” For emphasize, Trunks generated a small bit of Ki to burn the shoulder where the tears lay. “Rich as hell family, remember.” A small chuckle broke out between the two of them.

“So, you don’t care?”

“That you’re Trans? Not a fuckin’ problem at all.” Shrugging his shoulders, Trunks seemed to let the info fall off his back like water off a duck.

But, in a similar fashion to before, the last word struck a chord in Goten.

“Trans? Wha-What’s that?” Still sniffing away a few stray tears, Goten looked wide eyed at her friend for information on this mysterious term. Never in her life had she heard it, and Trunks just said it with complete confidence.

“Wait, you don’t know you’re trans?” Immediately after saying that, the face of the Capsule Corps heir turned regretful. “Ah, that was shitty to say. I’m sorry.”

“No, no it’s OK.” Moving up so she’d be right next to Trunks, the two sat on the bluffs, staring straight across the landscape of West City. All these buildings had been blown apart and torn down in a hundred ways. But now they were back, stronger than ever. Kinda inspiring when you think about it.

“What’s Trans?”

“My Mom told me about it. Some of the employees in Capsule Corp are the same as you, so she wanted me to know when I take over.” Looking softly at his best friend, Trunks gave a soft smile. “Mom said that:” Clearing his throat, Trunks put on his best Bulma impression “People who are Transgender were mistaking at birth to be one gender, but realized they were another.” Keeping the impression, the softness of Trunk’s smile was emphasized as he looked Goten straight in the eyes. “And they’re just as good as you, me or even your dumb dad.”

“But, I wasn’t mistaken for anythin’. My body….it’s a boys.” The stinging returned to the corners of her eyes. Don’t cry. Not again.

“Goten, what are you?”

“A girl.” No hesitation.

“Then you’re a girl. If you look or sound different than one, than that’s just the kinda girl you are.” A goodnatured pat on the back followed this. “If anything, you’re an even cooler girl cos you had the guts to say it.”

There was no disgust. No hate. No spite. None of that in Trunks voice. He was cool with it. Accepting. Heck, he was proud of her. Goten spent all this time begging that the world would just give her tolerance. And instead, it had given her admiration.

“Do you have a name or anythin? That you want me to call ya’, I mean?”

Once again, no hesitation.

“Ten. I-I like Ten.”

A simple, admiring nod came from Trunks.

“Ten. The coolest gal I know.” Reaching out a hand, Trunks pulled Goten into a warm hug. “When you’re ready, I know my Mom would love to introduce you to some people.”

“I’d like that.” Sitting up, Goten stared out into the vastness of the city.

Broken down, but rebuilt stronger than ever.

Kinda like Goten.


End file.
